The first film to win Best Picture at the Oscars was “Wings” in 1928 (that year, the academy also gave an award for Unique and Artistic Picture to “Sunrise”). Until 1950, the Oscar was awarded to the studio or production company. Since then, it has gone to the credited producers and after five of them won for “Shakespeare in Love” in 1998, a cap of three has been set.
At the first Oscars, there were three Best Picture nominees. In each of the next three years, five films contended. The category was expanded to eight in 1933, to 10 in 1934, and to 12 in 1935, before going back to 10 in 1937. In 1945 it was cut to five and stayed that way until 2009 when it once again was raised to 10. Since 2011, there have been a varying number of nominees from five to 10, with champs including “The Shape of Water,” “Green Book” and “Parasite.”
Tour our photo gallery below to see all of the Oscar winners of Best Picture, from “Wings” to the most recent. Gallery updated March 2024.
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‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)
Image Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic about the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer dominated the 96th Academy Awards, winning seven trophies overall: picture, director, actor for Cillian Murphy, supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr., cinematography, film editing and score.
2023 Best Picture nominees:
“American Fiction”
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Barbie”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Maestro”
“Oppenheimer”
“Past Lives”
“Poor Things
“The Zone of Interest” -
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)
Image Credit: Allyson Riggs/A24 A24’s sci-fi hit from filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert reaped more Oscar nominations than any other contender (11) and won seven of those: picture, director, original screenplay, actress (Michelle Yeoh), supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan), supporting actress (Jamie Lee Curtis) and film editing. The movie tells the story of a laundromat owner who traverses alternate universes.
2022 Best Picture nominees:
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Banshees of Inisherin”
“Elvis”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“The Fabelmans”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Triangle of Sadness ”
“Women Talking” -
‘CODA’ (2021)
Image Credit: Apple As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her passion at Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
2021 Best Picture nominees:
“Belfast”
“CODA”
“Don’t Look Up”
“Drive My Car”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“Licorice Pizza”
“Nightmare Alley”
“The Power of the Dog”
“West Side Story” -
“Nomadland” (2020)
Image Credit: Searchlight Pictures A woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Total Nominations: 6
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Director (Chloe Zhao)
Best Actress (Frances McDormand)Losses: 3
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing2020 Best Picture nominees:
“Nomadland”
“Trial of the Chicago 7”
“Minari”
“The Sound of Metal”
“Promising Young Woman”
“The Father”
“Mank”
“Judas and the Black Messiah” -
‘Parasite’ (2019)
Image Credit: Neon; CJ Entertainment All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident. “Parasite” made history as the first foreign language film to win Best Picture.
Total Nominations: 6
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Bong Joon Ho)
Best Original Screenplay (Bong Joon Ho and Jim Won Han)
Best International FilmLosses: 2
Best Production Design
Best Film Editing2019 Best Picture nominees:
“Ford v Ferrari”
“The Irishman”
“Jojo Rabbit”
“Joker”
“Little Women”
“Marriage Story”
“1917”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
“Parasite” -
‘Green Book’ (2018)
Image Credit: Universal A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.
Total Nominatons: 5
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali)
Best Original ScreenplayLosses: 2
Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
Best Film Editing2018 Best Picture Nominees:
“Black Panther”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”
“Vice” -
‘The Shape of Water’ (2017)
Image Credit: Fox Searchlight Guillermo Del Toro’s fairy tale for troubled times centers on a mute woman (Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with a sea creature.
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Guillermo Del Toro)
Best Production Design
Best ScoreLosses: 9
Best Actress (Sally Hawkins)
Best Supporting Actor (Richard Jenkins)
Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing2017 Best Picture Nominees:
“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” -
‘Moonlight’ (2016)
Image Credit: David Bornfriend This film about the journey of a gay black man through three stages of his life — as a young boy, a teenager and an adult — will be remembered for the infamous Best Picture mix-up that occurred when presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty incorrectly named “La La Land” as the winner instead of “Moonlight.”
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney)Losses: 5
Best Director (Barry Jenkins)
Best Supporting Actress (Naomie Harris)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Score2016 Best Picture Nominees:
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“Hidden Figures”
“La La Land”
“Lion”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight” -
‘Spotlight’ (2015)
Image Credit: Kerry Hayes The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the Catholic Church to its core.
Total Oscar Nominations: 6
Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay (Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer)Losses: 4
Best Director (Tom McCarthy)
Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo)
Best Supporting Actress (Rachel McAdams)
Best Film Editing2015 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Brooklyn”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Room”
“Spotlight” -
‘Birdman’ (2014)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A washed-up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself leading up to the opening of a Broadway play.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
Best Original Screenplay (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo)
Best CinematographyLosses: 5
Best Actor (Michael Keaton)
Best Supporting Actor (Edward Norton)
Best Supporting Actress (Emma Stone)
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing2014 Best Picture Nominees:
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash” -
’12 Years a Slave’ (2013)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image In the antebellum United States, a free black man from upstate New York is abducted and sold into slavery.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o)
Best Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley)Losses: 6
Best Director (Steve McQueen)
Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor)
Best Supporting Actor (Michael Fassbender)
Production Design
Costume Design
Film Editing2013 Best Picture Nominees:
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street” -
‘Argo’ (2012)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Everett Collection Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the US hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Adapted Screenplay (Chris Terrio)
Best Film EditingLosses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin)
Best Original Score
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing2012 Best Picture Nominees:
“Amour”
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Django Unchained”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty” -
‘The Artist’ (2011)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A silent film star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius)
Best Actor (Jean Dujardin)
Best Costume Design
Best Original ScoreLosses: 5
Best Supporting Actress (Berenice Bejo)
Best Original Screenplay (Michel Hazanavicius)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing2011 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse” -
‘The King’s Speech’ (2010)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The story of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Tom Hooper)
Best Actor (Colin Firth)
Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler)Losses: 8
Best Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush)
Best Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound Mixing2010 Best Picture Nominees:
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone” -
‘The Hurt Locker’ (2009)
Image Credit: Summit Entertainment During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad members due to his maverick way of handling his work.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow)
Best Original Screenplay (Mark Boal)
Best Film Editing
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound MixingLosses: 3
Best Actor (Jeremy Renner)
Best Cinematography
Best Original Score2009 Best Picture Nominees:
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air” -
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (2008)
Image Credit: Fox Searchlight A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Danny Boyle)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Song (‘Jai Ho‘)
Best Sound MixingLosses: 2
Best Song (“O…Saya“)
Best Sound Editing2008 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire” -
‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Violence and mayhem ensue in this modern western after a hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
Losses: 4
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
2007 Best Picture Nominees:
“Atonement”
“Juno”
“Michael Clayton”
“No Country for Old Men”
“There Will Be Blood”
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‘The Departed’ (2006)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. An undercover state cop who has infiltrated an Irish gang and a mole in the police force working for the same mob race to track down and identify each other before being exposed to the enemy, after both sides realize their outfit has a rat.
Total Oscar Nominations: 5
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
Best Adapted Screenplay (William Monahan)
Best Film Editing
Losses: 1
Best Supporting Actor (Mark Wahlberg)
2006 Best Picture Nominees:
“Babel”
“The Departed”
“Letters from Iwo Jima”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“The Queen”
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‘Crash’ (2005)
Image Credit: Bull's Eye Entertainment Los Angeles citizens with vastly different lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.
Total Oscar Nominations: 6
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay (Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco)
Best Film Editing
Losses: 3
Best Director (Paul Haggis)
Best Supporting Actor (Matt Dillon)
Best Original Song (“In the Deep”)
2005 Best Picture Nominees:
“Brokeback Mountain”
“Capote”
“Crash”
“Good Night, and Good Luck”
“Munich”
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‘Million Dollar Baby’ (2004)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A determined woman works with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Clint Eastwood)
Best Actress (Hilary Swank)
Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman)
Losses: 3
Best Actor (Clint Eastwood)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Paul Haggis)
Best Film Editing
2004 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Aviator”
“Finding Neverland”
“Million Dollar Baby”
“Ray”
“Sideways”
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‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)
Image Credit: Pierre Vinet/New Line Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron’s army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 11
Best Picture
Best Director (Peter Jackson),
Best Adapted Screenplay (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup
Best Score
Best Song (“Into the West”)
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual EffectsLoses: 0
This film was undefeated2003 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”
“Lost in Translation”
“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”
“Mystic River”
“Seabiscuit” -
‘Chicago’ (2002)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxy Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Zeta-Jones)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Losses: 7
Best Director (Rob Marshall)
Best Actress (Renee Zellweger)
Best Supporting Actor (John C. Reilly)
Best Supporting Actress (Queen Latifah)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Bill Condon)
Best Cinematography
Best Original Song (“I Move On”)
2002 Best Picture Nominees:
“Chicago”
“Gangs of New York”
“The Hours”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”
“The Pianist”
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‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image After John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Ron Howard)
Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman)Losses: 4
Best Actor (Russell Crowe)
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Makeup2001 Best Picture Nominees:
“A Beautiful Mind”
“Godford Park”
“In the Bedroom”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”
“Moulin Rouge!” -
‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by an emperor’s corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Actor (Russell Crowe)
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best Visual Effects
Losses: 7
Best Director (Ridley Scott)
Best Supporting Actor (Joaquin Phoenix)
Best Original Screenplay (David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
2000 Best Picture Nominees:
“Chocolat”
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
“Erin Brockovich”
“Gladiator”
“Traffic”
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‘American Beauty’ (1999)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Sam Mendes)
Best Actor (Kevin Spacey)
Best Original Screenplay (Alan Ball)
Best Cinematography
Losses: 3
Best Actress (Annette Bening)
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1999 Best Picture Nominees:
“American Beauty”
“The Cider House Rules”
“The Green Mile”
“The Insider”
“The Sixth Sense”
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‘Shakespeare in Love’ (1998)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Actress (Gwyneth Paltrow)
Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench)
Original Screenplay (Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Original Musical/Comedy Score
Losses: 6
Best Director (John Madden)
Best Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Best Makeup
1998 Best Picture Nominees:
“Elizabeth”
“Life is Beautiful”
“Saving Private Ryan”
“Shakespeare in Love”
“The Thin Red Line”
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‘Titanic’ (1997)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox A 17-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Total Oscar Nominations: 14
Wins: 11
Best Picture
Best Director (James Cameron)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Song (“My Heart Will Go On”)
Best Sound
Best Sound Effects Editing
Best Visual EffectsLosses: 3
Best Actress (Kate Winslet)
Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Stuart)
Best Makeup1997 Best Picture Nominees:
“As Good as It Gets”
“The Full Monty”
“Good Will Hunting”
“L.A. Confidential”
“Titanic” -
‘The English Patient’ (1996)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 9
Best Picture
Best Director (Anthony Minghella)
Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best SoundLosses: 3
Best Actor (Ralph Fiennes)
Best Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Anthony Minghella)1996 Best Picture Nominees:
“The English Patient”
“Fargo”
“Jerry Maguire”
“Secrets & Lies”
“Shine” -
‘Braveheart’ (1995)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, William Wallace begins a revolt against King Edward I of England.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Mel Gibson)
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Editing
Best MakeupLosses: 5
Best Original Screenplay (Randall Wallace)
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound1995 Best Picture Nominees:
“Apollo 13”
“Babe”
“Braveheart”
“Il Postino (The Postman)”
“Sense and Sensibility” -
‘Forrest Gump’ (1994)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny Curran, eludes him.
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (Robert Zemeckis)
Best Actor (Tom Hanks)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth)
Best Film Editing
Best Visual Effects
Losses: 7
Best Supporting Actor (Gary Sinise)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Original Score
Best Sound
Best Sound Effects Editing
Best Makeup
1994 Best Picture Nominees:
“Forrest Gump”
“Four Weddings and a Funeral”
“Quiz Show”
“Pulp Fiction”
“The Shawshank Redemption”
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‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Steven Spielberg)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Steven Zaillian)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best ScoreLosses: 5
Best Actor (Liam Neeson)
Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes)
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best Makeup1993 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Fugitive”
“In the Name of the Father”
“The Piano”
“The Remains of the Day”
“Schindler’s List” -
‘Unforgiven’ (1992)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Retired Old West gunslinger William Munny reluctantly takes on one last job, with the help of his old partner and a young man.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Clint Eastwood)
Best Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman)
Best Film Editing
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Clint Eastwood)
Best Original Screenplay (David Webb Peoples)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Sound
1992 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Crying Game”
“A Few Good Men”
“Howards End”
“Scent of a Woman”
“Unforgiven”
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‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)
Image Credit: MGM A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Jonathan Demme)
Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins)
Best Actress (Jodie Foster)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally)
Losses: 2
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
1991 Best Picture Nominees:
“Beauty and the Beast”
“Bugsy”
“JFK”
“The Prince of Tides”
“The Silence of the Lambs”
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‘Dances with Wolves’ (1990)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Lt. John Dunbar, exiled to a remote western Civil War outpost, befriends wolves and Native Americans, making him an intolerable aberration in the military.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Kevin Costner)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Michael Blake)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
Best Sound
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Kevin Costner)
Best Supporting Actor (Graham Greene)
Best Supporting Actress (Mary McDonnell)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
1990 Best Picture Nominees:
“Awakenings”
“Dances with Wolves”
“Ghost”
“The Godfather, Part III”
“GoodFellas”
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‘Driving Miss Daisy’ (1989)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image An old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Actress (Jessica Tandy)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Alfred Uhry)
Best Makeup
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Morgan Freeman)
Best Supporting Actor (Dan Aykroyd)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
1989 Best Picture Nominees:
“Born on the Fourth of July”
“Dead Poets Society”
“Driving Miss Daisy”
“Field of Dreams”
“My Left Foot”
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‘Rain Man’ (1988)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt’s father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Barry Levinson)
Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman)
Best Original Screenplay (Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow)
Losses: 4
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1988 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Accidental Tourist”
“Dangerous Liaisons”
“Mississippi Burning”
“Rain Man”
“Working Girl”
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‘The Last Emperor’ (1987)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image This story about the final Emperor of China went undefeated at the Academy Awards, going nine-for-nine.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 9
Best Picture
Best Director (Bernardo Bertolucci)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best SoundLosses: 0
This film was undefeated1987 Best Picture Nominees:
“Broadcast News”
“Fatal Attraction”
“Hope and Glory”
“The Last Emperor”
“Moonstruck” -
‘Platoon’ (1986)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A young recruit in Vietnam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Oliver Stone)
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Losses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Tom Berenger)
Best Supporting Actor (Willem Dafoe)
Best Original Screenplay (Oliver Stone)
Best Cinematography
1986 Best Picture Nominees:
“Children of a Lesser God”
“Hannah and Her Sisters”
“The Mission”
“Platoon”
“A Room with a View”
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‘Out of Africa’ (1985)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Sydney Pollack)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Kurt Luedtke)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Score
Best SoundLosses: 4
Best Actress (Meryl Streep)
Supporting Actor (Klaus Maria Brandauer)
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing1985 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Color Purple”
“Kiss of the Spider Woman”
“Out of Africa”
“Prizzi’s Honor”
“Witness” -
‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The incredible true story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told by his peer and secret rival, Antonio Salieri, now confined to an insane asylum.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Milos Forman)
Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Sound
Best MakeupLosses: 3
Best Actor (Tom Hulce)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing1984 Best Picture Nominees:
“Amadeus”
“The Killing Fields”
“A Passage to India”
“Places in the Heart”
“A Soldier’s Story” -
‘Terms of Endearment’ (1983)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter’s family problems.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (James L. Brooks)
Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine)
Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson)
Best Adapted Screenplay (James L. Brooks)
Losses: 6
Best Actress (Debra Winger)
Best Supporting Actor (John Lithgow)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
Best Sound
1983 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Big Chill”
“The Dresser”
“The Right Stuff”
“Tender Mercies”
“Terms of Endearment”
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‘Gandhi’ (1982)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Gandhi’s character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent. And the stubborn nature of Jinnah and his commitment towards Pakistan is portrayed.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Richard Attenborough)
Best Actor (Ben Kingsley)
Best Original Screenplay (John Briley)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film EditingLosses: 3
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Makeup1982 Best Picture Nominees:
“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”
“Gandhi”
“Missing”
“Tootsie”
“The Verdict” -
‘Chariots of Fire’ (1981)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Two British athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Catholic, compete in the 1924 Olympics.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Original Screenplay (Colin Welland)
Best Costume Design
Best ScoreLosses: 3
Best Director (Hugh Hudson)
Best Supporting Actor (Ian Holm)
Best Film Editing1981 Best Picture Nominees:
“Atlantic City”
“Chariots of Fire”
“On Golden Pond”
“Raiders of the Lost Ark”
“Reds” -
‘Ordinary People’ (1980)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.
Total Oscar Nominations: 6
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Robert Redford)
Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Alvin Sargent)
Losses: 2
Best Actress (Mary Tyler Moore)
Best Supporting Actor (Judd Hirsch)
1980 Best Picture Nominees:
“Coal Miner’s Daughter”
“The Elephant Man”
“Ordinary People”
“Raging Bull”
“Tess”
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‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ (1979)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Ted Kramer’s wife leaves her husband, allowing for a lost bond to be rediscovered between Ted and his son, Billy. But a heated custody battle ensues over the divorced couple’s son, deepening the wounds left by the separation.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Robert Benton)
Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman)
Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Benton)
Losses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Justin Henry)
Best Supporting Actress (Jane Alexander)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
1979 Best Picture Nominees:
“All That Jazz”
“Apocalypse Now”
“Breaking Away”
“Kramer vs. Kramer”
“Norma Rae”
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‘The Deer Hunter’ (1978)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image An in-depth examination of the ways in which the U.S. Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of people in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Michael Cimino)
Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken)
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Losses: 4
Best Actor (Robert De Niro)
Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep)
Best Original Screenplay (Michael Cimino, Deric Washburn, Louis Garfinkle, and Quinn K. Redeker)
Best Cinematography
1978 Best Picture Nominees:
“Coming Home”
“The Deer Hunter”
“Heaven Can Wait”
“Midnight Express”
“An Unmarried Woman”
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‘Annie Hall’ (1977)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall.
Total Oscar Nominations: 5
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Woody Allen)
Best Actress (Diane Keaton)
Best Original Screenplay (Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman)
Losses: 1
Best Actor (Woody Allen)
1977 Best Picture Nominees:
“Annie Hall”
“The Goodbye Girl”
“Julia”
“Star Wars”
“The Turning Point”
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‘Rocky’ (1976)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer, gets a supremely rare chance to fight the heavy-weight champion, Apollo Creed, in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self respect.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Director (John G. Avildsen)
Best Film Editing
Losses: 7
Best Actor (Sylvester Stallone)
Best Actress (Talia Shire)
Best Supporting Actor (Burgess Meredith)
Best Supporting Actor (Burt Young)
Best Original Screenplay (Sylvester Stallone)
Best Sound
Best Original Song (“Gonna Fly Now”)
1976 Best Picture Nominees:
“All the President’s Men”
“Bound for Glory”
“Network”
“Rocky”
“Taxi Driver”
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‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A criminal pleads insanity after getting into trouble again and once in the mental institution rebels against the oppresive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Milos Forman)
Best Actor (Jack Nicholson)
Best Actress (Louise Fletcher)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman)
Losses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1975 Best Picture Nominees:
“Barry Lyndon”
“Dog Day Afternoon”
“Jaws”
“Nashville”
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
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‘The Godfather, Part II’ (1974)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-revolution 1958 Cuba.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola)
Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Original Score
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Al Pacino)
Best Supporting Actor (Michael V. Gazzo)
Best Supporting Actor (Lee Strasberg)
Best Supporting Actress (Talia Shire)
Best Costume Design
1974 Best Picture Nominees:
“Chinatown”
“The Conversation”
“The Godfather, Part II”
“Lenny”
“The Towering Inferno”
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‘The Sting’ (1973)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image In Chicago in September 1936, a young con man seeking revenge for his murdered partner teams up with a master of the big con to win a fortune from a criminal banker.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (George Roy Hill)
Best Original Screenplay (David S. Ward)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Original Song Score/Adaptation
Losses: 3
Best Actor (Robert Redford)
Best Cinematography
Best Sound
1973 Best Picture Nominees:
“American Graffiti”
“Cries and Whispers”
“The Exorcist”
“The Sting”
“A Touch of Class”
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“The Godfather “(1972)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Actor (Marlon Brando)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo)
Losses: 8
Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola)
Best Supporting Actor (James Caan)
Best Supporting Actor (Robert Duvall)
Best Supporting Actor (Al Pacino)
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Best Original Score (nomination rescinded, replaced by “Sleuth”)
1972 Best Picture Nominees:
“Cabaret”
“Deliverance”
“The Emigrants”
“The Godfather”
“Sounder”
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‘The French Connection’ (1971)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (William Friedkin)
Best Actor (Gene Hackman)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Ernest Tidyman)
Best Film Editing
Losses: 3
Best Supporting Actor (Roy Scheider)
Best Cinematography
Best Sound
1971 Best Picture Nominees:
“A Clockwork Orange”
“Fiddler on the Roof”
“The French Connection”
“The Last Picture Show”
“Nicholas and Alexandra”
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‘Patton’ (1970)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The World War II phase of the career of the controversial general, George S. Patton.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Franklin J. Schaffner)
Best Actor (George C. Scott)
Best Original Screenplay (Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Film Editing
Best SoundLosses: 3
Best Cinematography
Best Score
Best Visual Effects1970 Best Picture Nominees:
“Airport”
“Five Easy Pieces”
“Love Story”
“M*A*S*H”
“Patton” -
‘Midnight Cowboy’ (1969)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York to seek personal fortune but, in the process, finds himself a new friend.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Director (John Schlesinger)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Waldo Salt)
Losses: 4
Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman)
Best Actor (Jon Voight)
Best Supporting Actress (Sylvia Miles)
Best Film Editing
1969 Best Picture Nominees:
“Anne of the Thousand Days”
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
“Hello, Dolly!”
“Midnight Cowboy”
“Z”
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‘Oliver!’ (1968)
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures/Photofest A young boy runs away from an orphanage and meets a group of boys trained to be pickpockets by an elderly mentor.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Carol Reed)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation)
Best Sound
Losses: 6
Best Actor (Ron Moody)
Best Supporting Actor (Jack Wild)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Vernon Harris)
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
1968 Best Picture Nominees:
“Funny Girl”
“The Lion in Winter”
“Oliver!”
“Rachel, Rachel”
“Romeo and Juliet”
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‘In the Heat of the Night’ (1967)
Image Credit: United Artists An African American police detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racially hostile southern town.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Actor (Rod Steiger)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Stirling Silliphant)
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Losses: 2
Best Director (Norman Jewison)
Best Sound Effects
1967 Best Picture Nominees:
“Bonnie and Clyde”
“Doctor Dolittle”
“The Graduate”
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”
“In the Heat of the Night”
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‘A Man for All Seasons’ (1966)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (Fred Zinnemann)
Best Actor (Paul Scofield)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Bolt)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Costume Design, ColorLosses: 2
Best Supporting Actor (Robert Shaw)
Best Supporting Actress (Wendy Hiller)1966 Best Picture Nominees:
“Alfie”
“A Man for All Seasons”
“The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming”
“The Sand Pebbles”
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” -
‘The Sound of Music’ (1965)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Robert Wise)
Best Film Editing
Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment
Best Sound
Losses: 5
Best Actress (Julie Andrews)
Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Wood)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
1965 Best Picture Nominees:
“Darling”
“Doctor Zhivago”
“Ship of Fools”
“The Sound of Music”
“A Thousand Clowns”
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‘My Fair Lady’ (1964)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (George Cukor)
Best Actor (Rex Harrison)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Score
Best SoundLosses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Stanley Holloway)
Best Supporting Actress (Gladys Cooper)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner)
Best Film Editing1964 Best Picture Nominees:
“Becket”
“Dr. Strangelove or; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”
“Mary Poppins”
“My Fair Lady”
“Zorba the Greek” -
‘Tom Jones’ (1963)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Tom Jones, a bastard foundling raised by the kindly Squire Allworthy, loves the beautiful Sophie Western, but cannot marry her due to the differences in their stations. When the villainous Blifil tricks the squire into casting Tom out of his household, the young man goes forth into the world on a series of high-spirited adventures, including heroic sword fights, mistaken identities, good deeds and lusty women.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Tony Richardson)
Best Adapted Screenplay (John Osborne)
Best Original Score
Losses: 6
Best Actor (Albert Finney)
Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith)
Best Supporting Actress (Diane Cilento)
Best Supporting Actress (Edith Evans)
Best Supporting Actress (Joyce Redman)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
1963 Best Picture Nominees:
“America, America”
“Cleopatra”
“How the West Was Won”
“Lilies of the Field”
“Tom Jones”
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‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (David Lean)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best SoundLosses: 3
Best Actor (Peter O’Toole)
Best Supporting Actor (Omar Sharif)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson)1962 Best Picture Nominees:
“Lawrence of Arabia”
“The Longest Day”
“The Music Man”
“Mutiny on the Bounty”
“To Kill a Mockingbird” -
‘West Side Story’ (1961)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 10
Best Picture
Best Director (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins)
Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris)
Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best SoundLosses: 1
Best Adapted Screenplay (Ernest Lehman)1961 Best Picture Nominees:
“Fanny”
“The Guns of Navarone”
“The Hustler”
“Judgment at Nuremberg”
“West Side Story” -
‘The Apartment’ (1960)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Billy Wilder)
Best Original Screenplay (Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Jack Lemmon)
Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine)
Best Supporting Actor (Jack Kruschen)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Sound
1960 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Alamo”
“The Apartment”
“Elmer Gantry”
“Sons and Lovers”
“The Sundowners”
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‘Ben-Hur’ (1959)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 11
Best Picture
Best Director (William Wyler)
Best Actor (Charlton Heston)
Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Special EffectsLosses: 1
Best Adapted Screenplay (Karl Tunberg)1959 Best Picture Nominees:
“Anatomy of a Murder”
“Ben-Hur”
“The Diary of Anne Frank”
“The Nun’s Story”
“Room at the Top” -
‘Gigi’ (1958)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long.
Total Oscar Nominations: 9
Wins: 9
Best Picture
Best Director (Vincente Minnelli)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White or Color
Best Costume Design, Black and White or Color
Best Film Editing
Best Score
Best Original Song (“Gigi”)Losses: 0
This film was undefeated1958 Best Picture Nominees:
“Auntie Mame”
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
“The Defiant Ones”
“Gigi”
“Separate Tables” -
‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ (1957)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image After settling his differences with a Japanese POW camp commander, a British colonel cooperates to oversee his men’s construction of a railway bridge for their captors – while oblivious to a plan by his Allies to destroy it.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (David Lean)
Best Actor (Alec Guinness)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Pierre Boulle, Carl Foreman, and Michael Wilson)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
Losses: 1
Best Supporting Actor (Sessue Hayakawa)
1957 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Bridge on the River Kwai”
“Peyton Place”
“Sayonara”
“12 Angry Men”
“Witness for the Prosecution”
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‘Around the World in 80 Days’ (1956)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can travel around the world in 80 days.
Total Oscar nominations: 8
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Adapted Screenplay (James Poe, John Farrow, and S.J. Perelman)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
Losses: 3
Best Director (Michael Anderson)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
1956 Best Picture Nominees:
“Around the World in 80 Days”
“Friendly Persuasion”
“Giant”
“The King and I”
“The Ten Commandments”
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‘Marty’ (1955)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Delbert Mann)
Best Actor (Ernest Borgnine)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Paddy Chayefsky)
Losses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Joe Mantell)
Best Supporting Actress (Betsy Blair)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
1955 Best Picture Nominees:
“Love is a Many Splendored-Thing”
“Marty”
“Mister Roberts”
“Picnic”
“The Rose Tattoo”
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‘On the Waterfront’ (1954)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Elia Kazan)
Best Actor (Marlon Brando)
Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint)
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (Budd Schulberg)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
Best Film EditingLosses: 4
Best Supporting Actor (Lee J. Cobb)
Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden)
Best Supporting Actor (Rod Steiger)
Best Score1954 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Caine Mutiny”
“The Country Girl”
“On the Waterfront”
“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”
“Three Coins in a Fountain” -
‘From Here to Eternity’ (1953)
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures In Hawaii in 1941, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit’s team, while his captain’s wife and second-in-command are falling in love.
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Fred Zinnemann)
Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra)
Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Daniel Taradash)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Best SoundLosses: 5
Best Actor (Montgomery Clift)
Best Actor (Burt Lancaster)
Best Actress (Deborah Kerr)
Best Costume Design, Black and White
Best Score1953 Best Picture Nominees:
“From Here to Eternity”
“Julius Caesar”
“The Robe”
“Roman Holiday”
“Shane” -
‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ (1952)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer told against a background of circus spectacle.
Total Oscar Nominations: 5
Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Writing, Motion Picture Story (Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, and Frank Cavett)
Losses: 3
Best Director (Cecil B. DeMille)
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Film Editing
1952 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Greatest Show on Earth”
“High Noon”
“Ivanhoe”
“Moulin Rouge”
“The Quiet Man”
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‘An American in Paris’ (1951)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Three friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color
Best Costume Design, Color
Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture
Losses: 2
Best Director (Vincente Minnelli)
Best Film Editing
1951 Best Picture Nominees:
“An American in Paris”
“Decision Before Dawn”
“Quo Vadis”
“A Place in the Sun”
“A Streetcar Named Desire”
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‘All About Eve’ (1950)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image An ingenue insinuates herself into the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.
Total Oscar Nominations: 14
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Best Supporting Actor (George Sanders)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Best Costume Design, Black and White
Best Sound
Losses: 8
Best Actress (Anne Baxter)
Best Actress (Bette Davis)
Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm)
Best Supporting Actress (Thelma Ritter)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1950 Best Picture Nominees:
“All About Eve”
“Born Yesterday”
“Father of the Bride”
“King Solomon’s Mines”
“Sunset Blvd.”
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‘All the King’s Men’ (1949)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Actor (Broderick Crawford)
Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge)
Losses: 4
Best Director (Robert Rossen)
Best Supporting Actor (John Ireland)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Robert Rossen)
Best Film Editing
1949 Best Picture Nominees:
“All the King’s Men”
“Battleground”
“The Heiress”
“A Letter to Three Wives”
“Twelve O’Clock High”
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‘Hamlet’ (1948)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Prince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Actor (Laurence Olivier)
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
Best Costume Design, Black and White
Losses: 3
Best Director (Laurence Olivier)
Best Supporting Actress (Jean Simmons)
Best Original Score
1948 Best Picture Nominees:
“Hamlet”
“Johnny Belinda”
“The Red Shoes”
“The Snake Pit”
“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”
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‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ (1947)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Director (Elia Kazan)
Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm)
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Gregory Peck)
Best Actress (Dorothy McGuire)
Best Supporting Actress (Anne Revere)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Moss Hart)
Best Film Editing
1947 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Bishop’s Wife”
“Crossfire”
“Gentleman’s Agreement”
“Great Expectations”
“Miracle on 34th Street”
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‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ (1946)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Three World War II veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have irreparably changed.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (William Wyler)
Best Actor (Fredric March)
Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell)*
Best Writing, Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood)
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
*Russell also won an Honorary Oscar for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans”
Losses: 1
Best Sound
1946 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Best Years of Our Lives”
“Henry V”
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
“The Razor’s Edge”
“The Yearling”
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‘The Lost Weekend’ (1945)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 4
Best Picture
Best Director (Billy Wilder)
Best Actor (Ray Milland)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder)
Losses: 3
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1945 Best Picture Nominees:
“Anchors Aweigh”
“The Bells of St. Mary’s”
“The Lost Weekend”
“Mildred Pierce”
“Spellbound”
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‘Going My Way’ (1944)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image After joining a parish, youthful Father Chuck O’Malley’s worldly knowledge helps him connect with a gang of kids looking for direction and handle the business details of the church-building fund, winning over his aging, conventional superior, Father Fitzgibbon.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 7
Best Picture
Best Director (Leo McCarey)
Best Actor (Bing Crosby)
Best Supporting Actor (Barry Fitzgerald)
Best Writing, Original Story (Leo McCarey)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Frank Butler and Frank Cavett)
Best Original Song (“Swinging on a Star”)
Losses: 3
Best Actor (Barry Fitzgerald)*
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Film Editing
*Fitzgerald is the only actor to receive Lead and Supporting nominations for the same performance. Voting rules were altered shortly thereafter to ensure this wouldn’t happen again.
1944 Best Picture Nominees:
“Double Indemnity”
“Gaslight”
“Going My Way”
“Since You Went Away”
“Wilson”
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‘Casablanca’ (1943)
Image Credit: Warner Bros In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen consequences.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Director (Michael Curtiz)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch)
Losses: 5
Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart)
Best Supporting Actor (Claude Raines)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1943 Best Picture Nominees:
“Casablanca”
“For Whom the Bell Tolls”
“Heaven Can Wait”
“The Human Comedy”
“In Which We Serve”
“Madame Curie”
“The More the Merrier”
“The Ox-Bow Incident”
“The Song of Bernadette”
“Watch on the Rhine”
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‘Mrs. Miniver’ (1942)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A British family struggles to survive during the first months of World War II.
Total Oscar Nominations: 12
Wins: 6
Best Picture
Best Director (William Wyler)
Best Actress (Greer Garson)
Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright)
Best Writing, Screenplay (George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, and Arthur Wimperis)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Losses: 6
Best Actor (Walter Pidgeon)
Best Supporting Actor (Henry Travers)
Best Supporting Actress (Dame May Whitty)
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
Best Special Effects
1942 Best Picture Nominees:
“49th Parallel”
“King’s Row”
“The Magnificent Ambersons”
“Mrs. Miniver”
“The Pied Piper”
“The Pride of the Yankees”
“Random Harvest”
“The Talk of the Town”
“Wake Island”
“Yankee Doodle Dandy”
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‘How Green Was My Valley’ (1941)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (John Ford)
Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp)
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White
Losses: 5
Best Supporting Actress (Sara Allgood)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Philip Dunne)
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
Best Sound
1941 Best Picture Nominees:
“Blossoms in the Dust”
“Citizen Kane”
“Here Comes Mr. Jordan”
“Hold Back the Dawn”
“How Green Way My Valley”
“The Little Foxes”
“The Maltese Falcon”
“One Foot in Heaven”
“Sergeant York”
“Suspicion”
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‘Rebecca’ (1940)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A self-conscious bride is tormented by the memory of her husband’s dead first wife.
Total Oscar Nominations: 11
Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Cinematography, Black and White
Losses: 9
Best Director (Alfred Hitchcock)
Best Actor (Laurence Olivier)
Best Actress (Joan Fontaine)
Best Supporting Actress (Judith Anderson)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison)
Best Art Direction, Black and White
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
Best Special Effects
1940 Best Picture Nominees:
“All This, and Heaven Too”
“Foreign Correspondent”
“The Grapes of Wrath”
“The Great Dictator”
“Kitty Foyle”
“The Letter”
“The Long Voyage Home”
“Our Town”
“The Philadelphia Story”
“Rebecca”
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‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939)
Image Credit: MGM A manipulative Southern belle carries on a turbulent affair with a blockade runner during the American Civil War.
Total Oscar Nominations: 13
Wins: 8
Best Picture
Best Director (Victor Fleming)
Best Actress (Vivien Leigh)
Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Sidney Howard)
Best Cinematography, Color
Best Art Direction
Best Film Editing
*Honorary Oscar: William Cameron Menzies, for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood.
*Technical Achievement Award: R.D. Musgrave, for pioneering in the use of of coordinated equipment.Losses: 5
Best Actor (Clark Gable)
Best Supporting Actress (Olivia de Havilland)
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Special Effects1939 Best Picture Nominees:
“Dark Victory”
“Gone with the Wind”
“Goodbye, Mr. Chips”
“Love Affair”
“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”
“Ninotchka”
“Of Mice and Men”
“Stagecoach”
“The Wizard of Oz”
“Wuthering Heights” -
‘You Can’t Take It With You’ (1938)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Director (Frank Capra)
Losses: 5
Best Supporting Actress (Spring Byington)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Robert Riskin)
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Sound
1938 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Adventures of Robin Hood”
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
“Boys Town”
“The Citadel”
“Four Daughters”
“Grand Illusion”
“Jezebel”
“Pygmalion”
“Test Pilot”
“You Can’t Take It With You”
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‘The Life of Emile Zola’ (1937)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfuss Affair.
Total Oscar Nominations: 10
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor (Joseph Schildkraut)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, and Norman Reilly Raine)Losses: 7
Best Director (William Dieterle)
Best Actor (Paul Muni)
Best Writing, Original Story (Heinz Herald and Geza Herczeg)
Best Art Direction
Best Score
Best Sound
Best Assistant Director1937 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Awful Truth”
“Captains Courageous”
“Dead End”
“The Good Earth”
“In Old Chicago”
“The Life of Emile Zola”
“Lost Horizon”
“One Hundred Men and a Girl”
“Stage Door”
“A Star Is Born” -
‘The Great Ziegfeld’ (1936)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image This biography follows the ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld, famed producer of extravagant stage revues.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Actress (Luise Rainer)
Best Dance DirectionLosses: 4
Best Director (Robert Z. Leonard)
Best Writing, Screenplay (William Anthony McGuire)
Best Art Direction
Best Film Editing1936 Best Picture Nominees:
“Anthony Adverse”
“Dodsworth”
“The Great Ziegfeld”
“Libeled Lady”
“Mr. Deeds Goes to Town”
“Romeo and Juliet”
“San Francisco”
“The Story of Louis Pasteur”
“A Tale of Two Cities”
“Three Smart Girls” -
‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ (1935)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Midshipman Roger Byam joins Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian aboard the HMS Bounty for a voyage to Tahiti. Bligh proves to be a brutal tyrant and, after six pleasant months in Tahiti, Christian leads the crew to mutiny on the homeward voyage.
Total Oscar Nominations: 8
Wins: 1
Best Picture
Losses: 7
Best Director (Frank Lloyd)
Best Actor (Clark Gable)
Best Actor (Charles Laughton)
Best Actor (Franchot Tone)
Best Writing, Screenplay (Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings, and Carey Wilson)
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score
1935 Best Picture Nominees
“Alice Adams”
“Broadway Melody of 1936”
“Captain Blood”
“David Copperfield”
“The Informer”
“Les Miserables”
“The Lives of a Bengal Lancer”
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
“Mutiny on the Bounty”
“Naughty Marietta”
“Ruggles of Red Gap”
“Top Hat”
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‘It Happened One Night’ (1934)
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures A spoiled heiress running away from her family is helped by a man who is actually a reporter in need of a story.
Total Oscar Nominations: 5
Wins: 5
Best Picture
Best Director (Frank Capra)
Best Actor (Clark Gable)
Best Actress (Claudette Colbert)
Best Writing, Adaptation (Robert Riskin)
Losses: 0
This film was undefeated
1934 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Barretts of Wimpole Street”
“Cleopatra”
“Flirtation Walk”
“The Gay Divorcee”
“Here Comes the Navy”
“The House of Rothschild”
“Imitation of Life”
“It Happened One Night”
“One Night of Love”
“The Thin Man”
“Viva Villa!”
“The White Parade”
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‘Cavalcade’ (1932-33)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A cavalcade of English life from New Year’s Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the Great War.
Total Oscar Nominations: 4
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Director (Frank Lloyd)
Best Art Direction
Losses: 1
Best Actress (Diana Wynyard)
1932-33 Best Picture Nominees:
“Cavalcade”
“42nd Street”
“A Farewell to Arms”
“I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang”
“Lady for a Day”
“Little Women”
“The Private Life of Henry VIII”
“She Done Him Wrong”
“Smilin’ Through”
“State Fair”
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‘Grand Hotel’ (1931-32)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A group of very different individuals staying at a luxurious hotel in Berlin deal with each of their respective dramas.
Total Oscar Nominations: 1
Wins: 1
Best Picture
Losses: 0
This film was undefeated
1931-32 Best Picture Nominees:
“Arrowsmith”
“Bad Girl”
“The Champ”
“Five Star Finale”
“Grand Hotel”
“One Hour with You”
“Shanghai Express”
“The Smiling Lieutenant”
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‘Cimarron’ (1930-31)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.
Total Oscar Nominations: 7
Wins: 3
Best Picture
Best Writing, Adaptation (Howard Estabrook)
Best Art Direction
Losses: 4
Best Director (Wesley Ruggles)
Best Actor (Richard Dix)
Best Actress (Irene Dunne)
Best Cinematography
1930-31 Best Picture Nominees:
“Cimarron”
“East Lynne”
“The Front Page”
“Skippy”
“Trader Horn”
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‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ (1929-30)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Total Oscar Nominations: 4
Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Director (Lewis Milestone)
Losses: 2
Best Writing, Achievement (George Abbott, Maxwell Anderson, and Del Andrews)
Best Cinematography
1929-30 Best Picture Nominees:
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“The Big House”
“Disraeli”
“The Divorcee”
“The Love Parade”
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‘The Broadway Melody’ (1928-29)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image A pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt.
Total Oscar Nominations: 3
Wins: 1
Best Picture
Losses: 2*
Best Director (Harry Beaumont)
Best Actress (Bessie Love)
*There were no official nominees announced this year
1928-29 Best Picture Nominees:
“Alibi”
“The Broadway Melody”
“The Hollywood Revue of 1929”
“In Old Arizona”
“The Patriot”
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‘Wings’ (1927-28)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
Total Oscar Nominations: 2
Wins: 2
Best Picture
Best Engineering Effects
Losses: 0
This film was undefeated
1927-28 Best Picture Nominees:
“The Racket”
“7th Heaven”
“Wings”
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More Oscar Photo Galleries
Image Credit: AMPAS Every Oscar winner for Best Picture
Every Oscar winner for Best Director
Every Oscar winner for Best Actor
Every Oscar winner for Best Actress
Every Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor
Every Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress
Musicals that won Best Picture
Westerns that won Best Picture
Tom O’Neil: My Top 25 Oscar Best Picture Winners of All Time
